I am not sure I believe in a S 5, never mind a S 6.
I love the show too much as well, but unfortunately our love alone cannot make it continue.

Phantom, I really don't see how you could even hope for more in just two years...why would they have wound things up now?  I mean that would just be a normal wait for us.

Hard question.
In my first or second posting in the topic concerning TFP, I wrote, that this episode was different. (I mean very different! Not only the "series 3 and 4 as a whole have been different as well" talking.) I wrote, that it would be hard to watch TFP a second time and that I don't know if I ever will. I stayed true to that, at least until today. (I will 100% watch it when the German dub comes out. I don't know if you can understand it, but for me this would count to the first and only viewing as well. Because for me, it is a different feeling to watch something in your mother tongue. So it would still be the first viewing of something.)
So, yeah I only watched TFP once. I saw some people's reaction videos or fan videos with short scenes on youtube, but never the whole thing after the first viewing. I was so drained and exhausted (and happy) by the emotional impact this episode had on me.

And I think my answer to this thread's question is that I can accept it as an ending to the series. But, pure and simple, I cannot say that I am satisfied or content.

Something's missing or something isn't right about it.
My main issue is, that TFP doesn't have the Sherlock feeling to it, as somebody already said so here in this thread. Series 1-3 all had it and TLD had it very much, and btw from T6T the Sherlock feeling was missing, too. A finale should have the Sherlock feeling. And Eurus... well, I'm not content with Eurus. For me it still is a bit like: what kind of character is that supposed to be??? I don't understand how her character is supposed to work in the show that we have been watching for 11(+1 special) episodes. I don't see her fitting in the Sherlock universe and I don't like her being the main focus and being the solution to "everything". That she is supposed the one, that everything is resolving around now. A device picked up from out of nowhere (those vague and very brief mentions of "Redbeard" don't count.) to force Sherlock's (and John's, Mycroft's) characterisation. I LOVE where all our main characters went and what great moments we got, BUT I think I could only say, that I would be satisfied with TFP as an ending if all of this had happened in a more normal, sherlocky, London/221B-focused and down to earth setting.
They managed to do that perfectly in TLD. Created strong emotional impact and character development with very simple scenes, e.g. Sherlock talking about suicide. For me it is hard to believe and a bit disappointing that they weren't able to do that for this last stage of character development in TFP.All those gut-wrenching things, that happened in the different chambers in Sherrinford, woven into a nice mysterious detective case, maybe a case that has been evolving since some time in the series, maybe even a new one, that would have been a perfect ending. Yes, I've got high expectations. ;) But you want an honest answer and this is what it is, when I listen honestly to how I am feeling about it right now.

^ This. Also they dropped Moriarty half way of his "second story arch" (the first being S1-S2). There are still details that weren't resolved. Like why Sherlock was so terrified of him (the moment in HOB when he sees his face while under drugs, and the padded cell scene, Jim appearing in TAB and the miss me thing). BTW, how could Mary know about "miss me" at all?
I even wonder how the story would work, if Jim took place of Eurus as the cause of the childhood trauma, and it would be him who Sherlock erased from his memory.

Vhanja: You know what my problem with this attitude (theirs, not yours) is? You can do this with a show that has episodes that can stand alone, that are independent from each other or the next series or the one before. In Sherlock, however, they are telling a more or less continuous story. It is open to discussion if TFP is a proper final episode or not. To me it feels as if five minutes before the end they had become anxious and had slapped on the DVD, just in case that this was the real end. 

Rache: It may have been me who said that it it did not feel like Sherlock and I still think so. To me, TFP is like a foreign body in the show and it feels far more alien than TAB ever did. Because TAB felt like Sherlock Holmes to me and TFP does not. 
 

I don't think there's any subterfuge about S5 either.  I think it's probably just as they say - they'd love to carry on, but it seems that it might be too difficult to make it happen.  So they've given us something that feels like an ending, if they don't make any more, but is a great starting point if they do - no loose ends to tidy up, no cliffhanger, no ongoing story.  They can go wherever they want with S5.

I think the change of tone was fine ... the Rathbone/Bruce films played with supernatural/horror elements (as did ACD himself, I suppose). 

I've always thought there was a kind of fantasy element to the series, and I suppose they've just expanded that in TFP.  I never did really feel that Sherlock actually existed in our world.  It kind of makes sense for him to have a superhero/comic book style beginning.  I can really picture TFP as a graphic novel.

Last edited by Liberty (March 27, 2017 6:44 pm)

Yes, it felt very last episode, to me.

Right. Funny, I always saw it as an echo of TAB, because even the writing seemed similar. The same with the impact it had on Sherlock - he was terrified seeing it written on the tag.

Mary knew that if nothing else, it would certainly get Sherlock's attention!  And it did.
 

Same here. Although Sherlock and John seem quite close in TFP, I am not happy with Sherlock constantly being mistreated by others and never get as much as an apology. This goes for Mary's half-hearted last words as well as - and especially - for John. His behaviour in the morgue was inexcusable. But it seems Sherlock is the only one who is expected to apologise while others never have to. 
And for me the same goes for Mycroft. What he did to Eurus - and to Sherlock as well - is hard to swallow. And again - who is tormented by their sister? Sherlock, not Mycroft. This is a pattern I would very much like to see changed in another series or special. 
 

Last edited by SusiGo (April 11, 2017 12:01 pm)

But this is not very much of a "punishment", is it? Mummy's disapproval for a man of fifty? It is just that I feel - and everyone is free to feel differently - that some characters get away very easily with things and others do not. And, sorry to say, for me John is one of them.